Electrical installation.



H. H. H AM. BLBGJRIGAL INSTALLATION.

A APPLICATION FILED MAY 1,1913. I v

Patented Oct. 6, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SH EET 2.

N 5mg/5.05am.

giovnega ToaZZ-fwtom it may .concern I citizen of the United l fthe-following is a specification.

' In" this`4 Way it, will be seen that the lamps more expense than .showing howthis switch is appiiedin an State of Massachusetts,

or to supply. other electric devices with an complicated mechanism, so that thelights 'orprimarily,.and consequently is not wast-ed.

a vA particularly important object of the inpower; Fig. 3 isa side view of the switch;

u' showing another postio'nof the switch, and

'omjfrnn sTATEs PATENT OFFICE;

' HENRY H. HAM,

or 'sHREwsBUnr :ivnlissncnusnrrs.

limacfriuciu. .INsTALLArroNf Be it known that I, HENRY H. HAM, a States, residing `at Shrewsbury, in the county of Worcester-.and have invented'a new and useful Electrical installation, of which Ordinarily when it is desired to ldim lights,

amount of power less than the maximum, it has been the custom to `throw'in resistance 'which necessarilyY involves some' loss of power.

The principal object of this invention is to pro-vide for accomplishing this result by changing the connection in a simple and ccnvenient way and without the employment of the likeI instead 'of using the current in par-- allel will receiveit in series, thusvusing the entire current for operating the lamps or the like and yet securing thedesired result.

'constitute the `resistance for 'dimming each 'other and that the power used therefore in the resistance 1s used for lighting purposes Y The invention is capable of general use, but is designedespecially'for dimming the lights of automobiles and will be described herein particularly with reference to that applicationfthereof.

vention is toprovide for securing these results by means of a switch and yconnection of the simplest character'and not involving isfinvolved in the simplest kind of switches.

Reference is to behad to the accompany'- Figure 1-is an end view of a switch confv struc'ted in accordance'with this invention ordinary automobile Vlamp circuit and in a position in whichfthe lhmps are connected. with the battery in parallel so as to' get the maximum lighting power; F ig.'2 is a similar View showing the connection of the lamps in series so as to get .a minimum ylightin Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing how the invention can be applied' to lamps .not in multiplesof four, end showing the switch in a modified form'; Fig. 5 is a` similar view Specification of Letters Patent.' applicati@ ined may 1, 19113.

connected in -passes -to the two contacts2l. a

lPatented Oct. 6, 1914. seriai no. 764,713.

' F ig. 6 is a diagrammatic view' .of another form of switch. Referring first to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the two head lights 9 are shown 'as -connected to each other in series by a conductor having a terminal 11. The ends of thispart of the circuit'are individually v'provided with two terininals 12 and 13'. I have also shown the tail light 14A and pilotlight 15, the former being parallel with one of the head lights, and the latter in parallel with the 'other so that the invention is shown in the simplest. form involvinglights in multiples of four. Each of the terminals, 12 and .13 therefore is connected with one terminal of oneof the head lights, and one of them'wi'th one terminal ofthe tail light,'and the other with one terminal of lother terminals vof all Theswitch itself has an oscillatable-niein-V.

ber 20 having three contacts 21` thereon el'etrically connected with each other and'ma -ing an angle of VL degrees with each other .1n the vform shown in the drawings. Also thel pilot light. The four lights are conl nccted with the terminal 11.. -zwi' rigidly mounted .on this member 20. is an.

other contact-22 which is insulated from the other three'contacts 21 and is at right angles to two of them. This contact 22 is connected with one ofthe battery..wires, and the three contacts 21 .are connected with4 vthe other.

wire. A handle 23`is shown located on the,

casing 24 'in which the switch i's arranged. and connected with the member 20 so'as to oscillate the same about its longitudinal axis.

Now when the shownin Figs. l-'and 3 the insulated contact` parts' are in the position is rrr-engagement with'the terminal 11 and the twoopposit'e contacts 21y are in engagement with the .terminals 12 and -1-3.

Consequently current from the battery one half going out through 'each ofthe contacts 12 and I3. -Each of these currents passes throughone of the lamps and tlen directly to the terminal 11., all the lamps thus being in parallel. From the terminal 11 thecurrent passes back to the'batterv lthrough the insulated contact 22'. lith 4tlfe parts inthispositi-on all four lights .are

supplied with the maximum amountof power and burn with themaximum amount of brilliancy:` When it is desired to turn the lightsv oif, the member 20 can be turned nd divides,

icc

35v contact 3T, a

to an intermediateposition'in which none of the contacts is. in engagement with any of the terminals 11, 12, or 13. y

YVlien it is desired to have the lamps burn '5'athalf powei the switch is turned to the position shown in Fig. 2. In this case the central one of the arms 21 engages the terminal 13 on one side,while the insulated terminal 22 engages the other terminal 12. The one of the arms 21 which now extends toward the terminal 11 is shorter than the aiin 22 and does not engage this terminal. l` he current therefore comes from the battery to one of the conducting contact arms 21, passes from that to the right hand terminal 13, then divides and goes through the pilot light 1'and one of the head lights 9. Then it passes in series through the other head-light 9 and the tail light 14 and back g', to the battery through the terminal 12 and insulated'arin In Figs-4 and 5 another .form of` the in- -vention is shown, and it is indicated as applied to a six lamp circuit. In this case the 25 Qpositive and negative wires of the line are provided with terminals and 31. The lighting circuit is shown as arranged with six lights' 29 in pairs, those of each pair l,being in series with ,each other and having 30 two common ter ninals 32 and 33. Between each pair of lights, however, there is a coni nion electrical connection 34 having a terininal`85. The switch in this case is a sliding plug 36 having a conducting section or second Vconducting section or p contact 3S, and an insulating section 39 between them. lith the parts in the position shown in Fig. 4 the terminals 31, 32 and 33 are in contact with the conducting section 40.37.while the terminals 30 and `are in contact with the conducting section 38. Consequently the current will pass through the terminal 30, y contact 3S, terminal 35, y wire 34' to all the lamps, dividing there and coming back to -the, conductor 37 through the terminals and and contact 37 and y thence to the negative side ot the line. In this way the lamps are 'in parallel and all lighted to, their maximum brilliaucy. In

the position shown in Fig. 5 the conducting contact 38 is i contact with the two'termi- "Lnais 3() and 3Q, while the two terminals 31 "and SSVare still iii contact with the cont-act 3T, the"terminals 35 being out of contact altogether. Now in this case the current comes in through the terminal 30, contact 3S, terminal 32 to one side of the series of lamps, and passes through each pair of .Y lamps in series and back through the termi- 60. .nal 3,3, Contact 3T and terminal 31. In this E fwaythe lamps receive only half the 'power and yet all the power which is used is einployed for lighting purposes.

It it is desired to shut the lights o' en- 65 tirely the plug is moved to an intermediate position in which the insulating section 39 covers the terminal 30. In lfig. 6 the same princi-ples are carried out. Here the battery-terminal 40 is 'permanently connected with a spring contact 41. The other battery terminal 42 is connected with one end of the lamp circuit, the other end ot which is connected with a spring 43. .i rotary shaft 44 has an eccentric thereon adapted when in its two opposite positions to engage the two springs 41 and 43 and move them laterally. 11i the position shown it moves the spring 43 out of engagement with the contact terminal 4Q. In the opposite position it would ".iove the spring 41 into engagement with a contact` 46, which connected between the two lamps. That wouldA give a parallel connection, while in the position shown the lamps are connected in series, trom t-he battery through 41, 14,43, through the lamps and bacl; to the other tei-minal ol the battery. it will be seen,v therefore t by this method ot' dimming elec-rie liglns or reducing the activity ot' any other electric device, the reduction in the amouiit'o power used is pro- `vided for simply by changing the circuit from parallel to series, thus using all the power -for the purpose intended and not wasting any heating up an inactive resistance, and et the device used for accomplishiiigthe results is oitexceedingly simple characterand does not materially add to the expense oi" installation over the ordinary switches used to switch in the resistance, and in fact is less expensive than many or" these.

Although I have illustrated anddescribed only three forms in which the invention can be carried out, I am aware et' the fact that it can be carried out in many other ways without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Thereore,l do not wish to be limited to all the details of construction herein shown and described, but

lhat I do claim is 1. The combination with two electrical devices, oi a conductor connecting them with each other in series, and a switchhaving two llt contacts insulated from e'acli other and movable to two positions, in both of which one ot said contacts is connected with one ter minal of the source et power, andwith one ot said devices on the side thereof opposite said conductor, and the other contact of said switch is connected with the other terminal ot saidsource of power, in one ot which positions one contact is connected with the other of said devices on the side tliereo'tl opposite-,said conductor and in the other of which positions the last named contact is connected ith said conductor at a point ,between` said two electrical devices and otherwise insulated from the second of said devices.

2. The combination with two electrical dellt --each otherand movable to two position|s,1n both' of which one .of 'Said contacts is .conj nected'with one terminal of the source of power, and the other contact of said switchis connected withth'e other'ter'mi-nalcf said ,source ofpowemandin one of which lone contact is connect d with saidl 'conductor at a "point, between si .'said' Iswitch {alsabeing ymovable tov a third -'p'osit1on'inwhich the circuit iselectrically broken-.I I

position in which each of said'contacts' is in contact with one of the last named terminals' and out 4of contact with the first named terminal, and also movable to ano't'her position,r

inwhiichone of 'its contactsilisl in .contact incelectricalconnection with both of the other terminals, A y

4. The'com-bination with two electricalv de- Vices, of Aconducting means for connecting ,them witheach other in series, and a switch having a portion thereo'f connected with one id two electrical devices, v

'terminalofa source of power ti'onsof the s itch,1and another sulated' there rom and connected with'the lll measl at a point between-said two devices, and'in the' other of which it is connected with it on one `side of saidl conducting means,

5. The combination withltwo 'electrical de'- l vices, ay conductor connecting 'them with' each other '1n series, means for connecting one end of said conductor` with a terminal oa source of power, the other end of said' switch having two-contacts insulated om each otherand movable to two po'sitions, in

both of which :one of the last named lcon:

tacts is connected with said terminal of thesource of power,- antl in one of which the other contact of' said l'switch 'is connected 'with the other terminal of said source ofp'ower., and in the other of'which .itjis connected with said conductors at'fa point be- .I i conductor also having, a terminal, a cll a' 3. .In an' .el tric installation, the 'comi loinationwitha pair of lamps connected in 55 `seriesliwith each other, and having a termi@ tweensaidftwo electrical devices, saldswit'ch v also'being movable to a'third position in'- v which the circuit is electrically broken.: 'with the -first named terminal andthe other In testimony7 whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two lsubscribing C. Fouiner Wrssoim 

